Fragile Little Bones
by RorschachZodiac
Summary: The little human batted her hand at the alpha Velociraptor's nose. So small. So weak. But she would grow, and the raptor pack would teach her how to be one of them.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** My first fanfic! I'm messing with chronology here. This is set a little after The Lost World, but there's at least a decade of time between that and the third JP. In this fic the raptors have names based on distinctive attributes, and they're not so much names as details that stick in the other raptors' minds. 'Clever' is a reference to Clever Girl.

Enjoy!

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_Gone. _

On the banks of a river, far inland from the ocean, despairing cries and howls rang out against the pitch black night. Herbivores and carnivores alike made an extra effort to keep their distance, knowing all too well the reason for this mourning. The tyrannosaurs especially kept away, understanding on some level that they were, to some extent, the ones responsible.

The tyrannosaurs, in their fury at their hatchling having been stolen and injured, had pursued the humans far inland. They had not noticed that their path of rampage had taken them straight through the nesting site of the Velociraptors.

_Gone! All gone!_

All of the eggs had been crushed.

Now, several nights after the pale, fleshy creatures-the _humans_-had left the island, the pack still mourned. At first, the humans had been a great feast, having wandered straight into the grass, straight to the raptors. There would be meat to last for weeks, but some humans had escaped. They had gone straight for the compound, and the raptors, still in a frenzy, had followed.

Standing on the riverbank, separate from her pack as they cried into the night, the alpha raptor remembered.

Of her pack, there were now only seven, when once they had been eight. The youngest three, only a few months, had remained at the nest during the hunt and only come after the bloodbath, called by the alpha and second beta. The rest had gone ahead, in pursuit of the remaining humans.

Three had gone. Only two came back. They returned broken, for their inattention had cost the life of the one who'd gone after the human by herself. Two of them had fought each other, when they should have been helping the young one. It shamed the alpha, to know that her mate had been distracted by something so simple as a playfight.

But the mourning had only just begun.

After the humans left, taking with them the buck and the hatchling tyrannosaurs, the pack had returned to the nest, to recover from their loss. As they approached, the air thickened with the smell of blood. They had been alarmed, and then... then they saw what had happened to their nest.

The ground was torn, and the eggs were crushed, crushed by the rampage of the tyrannosaurs as they hunted the humans who had stolen their hatchling. With such provocation, they tyrannosaurs could not truly be blamed, as it was the humans who had come and disturbed the island to begin with. Still... the eggs were gone, and the pack was suffering.

The alpha turned away from the river and stepped back to one of the nest-her nest. There had been only two, hers and her mate's, and that of their betas. Still, with almost sixteen eggs per nest, this was a devastating loss. Gently, she nosed the eggshells, lying cold and shattered in the dirt.

She gave a soft series of clicks, raspy and halting. She had kept composed for the sake of her pack, since her first wailing realization of what had happened. As they howled their pain for all to hear, she kept her sorrow contained.

_Next year._

_There will be more eggs._

_But..._

There was a touch to her neck, and she lifted her head from the broken nest. Her mate had come over, and the cries of the rest were dying down. He clicked at her, and nuzzled her neck a second time. She brushed his side with her tail, and felt just a little better. But only a little.

Nothing could replace these eggs, at least not until next year, next breeding time. Until then... well, it had only been a few days since the humans had left, so the incident was still fresh in their hearts. They would cope, and they would heal. They could not go after the ones responsible-not the humans, far away, and certainly not the tyrannosaurs-so they would just have to keep doing what raptors did best.

Surviving.

There would be eggs again. In the meantime... the alpha raised her head and gave a throaty hoot, getting the attention of the pack. Eagerly they stood, waiting for her word. She was their leader, after all, and they would follow. She had earned her position, by knowing her pack, though her substantial prowess no doubt helped her keep her leadership. She was largest of them all, with the largest claws.

Claws, like the menacing sickles that set the raptors apart. Hers were the largest, sharpest, and so that was how the others saw her.

To all of them, she was Talon.

Her mate was beside her, no doubt already thinking of advice to give her. That was what _he_ did best-he considered what was best for the pack, especially in times of strife, when the rest of them were angry. He was the emotional rock.

He was Clever.

Not far to the side, that was where her betas stood. One of them, slightly smaller, was the last remaining of Talon's nestmates, and she could still remember back when they tussled amongst their brothers and sisters. He was always aggressive, but she had never found that to be interesting. The dark pattern on his back was far more distinctive.

Stripes.

His mate hovered next to him, her eyes dark with pain and anger. It was her nestmate who had been killed only a few days ago, and she was bitter. Talon knew that if the humans were still on the island, she would have gone after them, and none of the others would be able to stop her. She was so much faster than them, after all.

She was Quick.

The youngest three were gammas, and would remain gammas until they took mates. They might live for years and still hold that rank, especially in a pack as small as theirs. Two males and a female, they were waiting for her word with a nervous energy. Talon only looked at them for a moment.

The biggest one, making his odd, perpetual clicking noise, seemed almost unable to contain his anxiety.

Ticker.

Then there was the female, Talon and Clever's hatchling, the one who had suffered an unfortunate burn to her tail, from a brush fire when she was very young.

Burnt.

Lastly, there was the smallest raptor, with the leg lame since birth. A hatchling of raptors who were both now dead, he had been thrown from the nests for his limp. However, he had survived, and Talon had accepted him back after seeing such determination. Still... he was not whole. He had the best sense of smell, but he could not walk right.

Hobble.

All of them waited for her command. They had seen the humans leave, in the airborne metal monstrosities, but there could still be humans on the coast. Talon knew this, and suspected the others did, too. Nosing the air, her tail lashed to the side, and she gave off a short, succinct snarl.

_Find them._

_If they are here, hunt them._

Her pack responded with a cacophony of growls and shrieks, proving that they were ready. Talon pivoted sharply and took off into the underbrush, her pack following behind. They would make their way to the coast, to the thrashing waters, and if the humans were still there, then the raptors would take from them what was taken from the pack.

_Find them! They will take no more eggs!_

The pack surged through the jungle, their howls now filled with a fearsome bitterness, piercing the night and warning all other creatures to stay away.


	2. Chapter 2

Far over the breaking waves, the sun was slowly rising. The horizon had been painted a shade of red more often associated with fresh corpses. From somewhere deep within the jungle, eerie sounds menaced the morning air. However, the beach itself was surprisingly quiet.

A lone compy ran about, picking at smaller lizards. It darted out of the way of an incoming wave and perched itself upon a log. Tilting its head to the side, the small dinosaur regarded the ocean curiously. Something was interrupting the crests of the waves.

Tangled in shredded cloth, a hand briefly broke the surface, flailing desperately before going under again.

The compy gave a high-pitched chirp and darted back into the jungle. Once again, the beach was empty, if only for a few minutes. Carrying its precious burden past the razor sharp rocks, the ocean deposited a tiny, tattered creature onto the sand.

Water was in their lungs. A shudder traveled the length of their body, and they coughed weakly. As soon as they could breathe again, they did nothing but lie still on the warm, scratchy textures of the beach.

So long the water had held them.

So long they had been screaming.

Faces lingered in their mind, distant and muddled. The big thing on the water, it had been tipped over on its side by the waves. The creature remembered someone tying an orange thing around them, only seconds before that person was ripped away by the rope caught around their leg. After that, the little one had been left alone drifting in the violent waves.

At some point, the orange floatie had come off. It'd been tied on in a hurry, and not tightly enough. They had been caught by the water and pulled under. Then, cold darkness, and a heavy, heavy silence.

The little thing had remembered a lesson.

_Follow the bubbles._

So the ocean hadn't swallowed them. They'd fought, fought to stay awake and stay breathing, but their arms and legs were scrawny and small and not enough to keep them above the surface of the water. Who knew how long they'd been fighting, desperate and scared.

Now... now they were back on land. Not really dry, but not so wet that it was choking them. They were safe. Alone, cold, with tattered clothing, but safe from the ocean. They had cuts and scrapes from the wreck, but nothing bad, nothing they really noticed. The only one that hurt was on their head-it throbbed mercilessly. But they were so tired from swimming, from fighting, that they barely noticed.

Lying prone on the beach, curled up in a shivering ball, they closed their eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

_A scent! _

Keeping most of his weight on his one good leg, Hobble called out to the rest of the pack. The sun had risen, but they were still scouring the shoreline jungle for signs of the humans. Just when it seemed that all of them were indeed gone, the lame raptor had caught the faint smell of human blood.

_Human! Human! This way!_

His call echoed through the trees, short and booming, and within moments the rest of the pack burst out of the underbrush and followed the slight raptor towards the beach. Hobble's gait was stiff, but Talon made sure the rest of the pack waited for him. The stench in the air was stagnant-their target was not moving. The pack could afford a little patience.

Determined not to hold up his packmates, Hobble ignored the wincing aches in his ankle and forced himself to move faster. He could never hope to keep full pace with the other raptors, but at the very least he would not slow them down too much.

All of them were starved for blood, and they would not be kept waiting while their prey waited so close.

Burnt came up beside Hobble suddenly, darting close and nipping him on the arm playfully. The gesture was intended to be encouraging, but instead it irritated the weaker raptor. Before his packmate could jump away, he twisted his body sharply and knocked her over with his tail.

Startled by the fierce physical retort, Burnt began to make a move in defense. The brewing fight was spotted by Quick, and immediately she stepped in, snapping down harshly between the two youngsters. Her eyes were slitted darkly.

_Stop,_ she indicated with a hiss. _The enemy is close. Focus!_

For a moment, Burnt seemed to consider disobeying, but a sharp growl from Talon told her that the pack had reached the ocean, and the human was very near. The smell of blood, while faint, still lingered heavily in the salty air. A fervor stirred in each of the raptors as they scanned the beach for their target.

At first glance, their seemed to be nothing on the sand. No metal beasts, no fires, no sounds except for the rumble of the waves. The bloodscent seemed to have no source.

Angry, Stripes spun about and howled at the sky. _Where?! WHERE?_ His frustration was shared by most of the others, with the exception of one. No doubt the adult raptors, the ones who had hunted the humans, were searching for creatures of the same stature. Venturing a few curious steps down the sandy stretch, Ticker noticed something unusual.

It was something foreign, but not exactly like the humans the raptors had hunted.

He breathed in the air, and the breeze carried an especially strong odor of blood. His eye twitching, Ticker looked back at the others and gave a hesitant screech. The call, as always, was marred by his stuttering click, but it got their attention nevertheless.

_On the sand. Blood!_

Slowly, in perfect silence, the raptors moved in on what Ticker had seen. At the front of the pack, Talon motioned with the tilt of a head that the rest of them keep their distance, as the thing before them did not at all resemble the humans. In fact, were it not for the telltale scent of fresh blood, Talon would have assumed the thing was not alive at all.

Drenched heavily in water and salt, it laid still on the beach. No sound, no movement, just stillness. Only when Talon was within a few steps of it did she finally see the slight ripple of the torn fibers near its mouth, fluttering as the decrepit creature breathed.

Such a strange sight... the scent was all too familiar, reeking of humans. However, Talon had never seen a human this small. So pale it was almost white, and very scrawny. If the waves had tossed the creature onto the shore, then Talon had to wonder where the tiny thing came from. Perhaps the other humans had forgotten it, abandoned it?

Behind her, Talon heard Clever step close, giving a throaty rasp. _What is it?_ his posture asked.For once, the alpha's mate betrayed his confusion. Talon lashed her tail once, and then kept it still. She didn't know for sure what the little thing was, either, but it smelled of human blood.

It was that stench that had the rest of the pack, especially the betas, so riled.

_Blood!_ Quick snarled, moving for the creature on the sand. _Human! Hunt them! Make them pay!_

Within half a second, Talon stepped firmly between her beta and the tiny human-thing. None of them knew for sure what the creature was, and the alpha would not have Quick or anyone else attacking it before they had a better idea of what they had found. A sharp shriek was followed by a flinch, and Talon quietly hissed to her mate to keep an eye on the pack.

Clever ticked his head to the side in understanding, and once assured that their quarry wouldn't be ripped to shreds just yet, Talon padded closer to the creature. It certainly smelled of humans, but that was only because of the blood that lightly stained the strange fibers that cocooned it. The human-thing's individual scent was all but completely masked by saltwater.

Slowly, Talon lowered her head down to the sand. The creature's body was only barely bigger than the raptor's head, and remained motionless as Talon nosed it, sniffing it and trying to figure out where it had come from. Seizing onto the hairy mass on the creature's head with her teeth, Talon shifted its head to the side.

So that was where the blood was coming from... there was a deep gash on the creature's head. Blood was caked onto the hair close to the wound, and spattered around the rest of its pale skin. Talon noticed that the little thing's eyelids fluttered faintly as Talon licked the injury.

Then, Talon heard the faintest of sounds come from the creature. A whimper.

A heartbeat later, the tiny human's eyes flew open wildly and it lunged upwards, knocking into Talon's jaw. the raptor stepped back, shocked by the sudden jolt. She swiftly regained her bearings, and realized that the human-thing hadn't been trying to attack her.

Blinking dazedly, the creature coughed. Now it was hunched over, but still almost sitting up. It kept making the whimpering sound, a soft, plaintive cry that hit a tightly strung nerve in the alpha raptor. With a sharp growl, Talon ordered the rest of her pack to stay away.

She finally understood what they had found. The cry, the small size, the scent of human blood... no wonder Ticker had been confused, when he first saw it. It was unlike anything they'd ever seen. However, to Talon, the cries of helpless offspring all sounded the same.

Talon had no idea how it got here, but the creature sitting before her on the sand was a human hatchling.


	4. Chapter 4

( I'm so happy that you guys are liking this! )

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_Ouch._

Waking up was a lot harder than falling asleep. At least when she was asleep, she dreamed, and she didn't feel the throbbing pain in her head, or the aching loneliness. Of either of those things, the loneliness scared her more. She didn't know why she felt so alone.

The headache, at least, made sense. She'd been cut badly, probably by a rock in the ocean. It hurt, and that was one of the reasons she didn't want to wake up. But, of course, she did. When consciousness had returned, she'd been groggy, and her arms and legs had been completely numb. She lay there, not moving, focusing only on breathing.

She'd also, completely by accident, ended up listening, too. What she heard puzzled her.

Snarls. Hisses. Screeches. That didn't sound right at all! She tried moving, but her arms were so sore that she couldn't so much as budge. Instead, she found herself stuck, lying face-down in the sand, hearing these weird noises from all around her.

Not only were they strange, but they were also very, very close to her.

As feeling started returning to her fingers and toes, she realized that one of her arms was pinned completely underneath her body. Well, that explained the pins and needles... she decided it was time to wake up. Wriggling slightly against the sand, she felt a tickle in her nose as some of the grit found its way inside. She would have sneezed, if not for the sudden shadow looming over her menacingly.

She froze. Most of the sounds had stopped, but only because of a very loud, piercing screech. She could feel her head throb painfully as the sound chattered through her bones. Why? Why was it so loud, and why was it right next to her? She would have asked, if she could talk properly. She only knew a few words, _mommy, tickle,_ and _nap_ among them.

For a moment, she forgot the sounds around her and tried to focus on that one word, mommy. Try as she might, she couldn't remember what it was supposed to mean. She knew what it felt like-safety. Still, of the few blurry faces stuck in the back of her mind, she couldn't figure out which one was mommy, if any.

If mommy were here, they would help. She was sure of it. But... she was alone.

Something moved above her. There was a sudden thud, and a large, dark object moved into view. Through barely open eyelids, she could see a foot. It was sort of like her own foot, but much bigger, and sharper. The biggest sharp bit tapped into the sand for a moment, and then the shadow grew darker.

Then, she felt something touch the back of her neck. Slowly her confusion was replaced by fright, and the bleariness in her brain started to clear. Hot breath cascaded down her neck, sticking to her skin like a fuzzy blanket. Fear kept her silent and still, for the moment.

The strange, large shape breathing on her neck moved again, this time grabbing gently onto her matted hair. With a short twist, the toothy shape turned her slightly onto her side. She squeezed her eyes shut, afraid to look at whatever was breathing on her.

Oh... it wasn't just breathing on her. Not anymore. She bit her lip in alarm as something wet and raspy scraped the cut on her head. For a second it hurt, but then the pain subsided a little bit. She wanted the think that she remembered something small and fuzzy licking her in a similar way, except it was barking instead of hissing. Or maybe it wasn't. She couldn't tell if the memory was real or not.

However, the thing licking her now was definitely real. She shivered faintly from alarm, and let out a distressed whimper. All at once, the licking stopped. She could still feel the teeth pressed up against her skin, though.

Her heartbeat thundered in sudden terror. Letting out a sharp squeak, she jumped upwards, rocking back onto her knees. Her fingers were still dug into the sand, but now she was upright, with her eyes fully open. Now she could finally see the toothed things around her.

The one that had been licking her took a step away, rearing its giant head backwards. Both of them were startled, it seemed. She barely let herself breathe as she looked at the thing with the slitted eyes and big, sharp feet.

_Lizard_ and _bird_ were the words that came to mind. She tilted her head to the side curiously, and the movement was mimicked by one of the littler lizard-birds behind the big one. Since she could only count as high as three, in the back of her mind she counted two threes of lizard-birds, plus another one.

The Big One.

Steadily, she noticed the pain coming back to her head. Cringing, she raised up a hand and gingerly touched the cut, feeling it sting at the contact of her fingers. As she coughed and started sniffling from the irritation, the big lizard-bird let out a soft growl.

A few moments later, one of the others, one of the little three, made a chirping sound and started walking towards her. She stiffened, not sure what it was going to do. Within a few seconds it was joined by a lizard-bird with dark stripes on its back. Both of them were making sharp clicks and snarls, sounds that made her feel uncomfortable.

She started crying.

For a heartbeat, the two lizard-birds stopped, surprised by her voice. Then the stripy one let out a loud, booming screech, lowering itself closer to the ground and glaring at her with slitted eyes. It started moving much faster, before suddenly being stopped as The Big One rounded on it and hissed harshly.

Watching the smaller two lizard-birds flinch back, heads bowed, a word popped into her head, suggested by the actions of The Big One.

_NO._

She was vaguely aware of a few more snarls, ones that sounded angry and frustrated, and amongst all of them The Big One stayed poised in between her and the rest of the lizard-birds. With how The Big One stood there, like a tall, scaly wall, another word came to mind.

_Safe._ In her head, the word still fit best with the word _mommy._ The Big One was there, protecting her from the angry lizard-birds, keeping her safe.

So that's what a mommy was!

Reaching her hand out towards the long, thick tail sticking out over her head, she tried to get up on her knees and promptly fell face-first into the sand again. Her legs were completely numb and sore, unable to support her weight. As she fell, she let out a frightened squeal.

_Mommy!_

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw The Big One-the mommy-turn around, just as she hit the sand. Swallowing some of it, she coughed it out harshly and tried to sit up again. The Big One's feet came close to her, digging into the sand. They were sharp, and scary, but... they _had_ been keeping her safe. She hadn't felt safe since she'd been tossed so violently into the waves and had her head smashed against a rock.

Her eyes were stinging with little salty droplets, and she suddenly felt scared again. An agitated whimper found its way up through her lungs and throat. The Big One let out a curious hiss as their shadow loomed over her again.

When they were close enough, she dove forward and wrapped her arms around The Big One's legs.

Trembling, she squeezed as tightly as she could, determined to never let go. She was safe, after all. Over and over, that word repeated in her head, and best as she could she tried to say it. It came out as a weak mumble, lost even to her own ears as she pressed her face into the warm, scaly texture of The Big One.

_Mommy, I'm scared._

_Please keep me safe._


	5. Chapter 5

Things had started going badly when Burnt and Stripes ignored her order and made an attempt for the human hatchling. Talon had stopped them swiftly, but that peace had only lasted for so long. The situation had only deteriorated further when the hatchling decided to latch onto Talon's leg, just like a leech. The alpha raptor's first instinct was to shake it off, but it kept making those helpless cries.

For that reason and that reason only, she resisted the urge to rip the hatchling off her leg with brute force. However, she couldn't exactly let it _stay_ fused to her leg... it was already difficult enough to keep her pack in line. This strange assault on Talon's limb might be enough to push them over.

But still, how to get it off? The hatchling had been oblivious to Talon's hiss of surprise, and was now repeating the same series of muffled sounds, over and over. The noises were soft, tumbling together and making absolutely no sense. A murmuring sound, then a longer, yawning noise, then the murmur again, then a sharp high pitch. Too complicated. Why couldn't humans just demonstrate their thoughts with a hiss and a movement? Then again, if the fleshy creatures had anything resembling a mind for efficiency, then they wouldn't have been so easy to hunt...

The alpha raptor could puzzle over flawed human instincts later. In the meantime, she had to decide what to do with this awkward situation. If she kicked the hatchling away, it might not let go, and would most likely get cut by Talon's claws. She could bite it, and yank it off her leg, but then it would probably die. And if she let it stay there... well, her packmates were already infused with painful anger.

With human flesh and blood so close to their teeth, not even their alpha would be able to keep them in check for long. No, at the very least Talon had to show she was in control of the hatchling, and she would start by detaching it. Carefully.

Talon remembered her hatchling, Burnt, after she had suffered the wound on her tail. While healing, as she slept she occasionally woke up in a terrified panic. The fire invaded her mind at night, and after she awoke Talon would soothe her with a soft, purring snarl.

Tapping her nose against the hairy mass atop the human hatchling, Talon recreated the sound that had comforted her own offspring in the past. As she growled, she bit into the torn fibers on the pale hatchling's back, and started to pry it off.

_Hmm. Not it. Her. Yes... her._ Upon closer examination of the hatchling's scent, Talon was able to recognize the mellower base odor of females. So, a lost female human hatchling, one that seemed determined to remain attached to the raptor's leg.

No wonder the rest of the pack stood by in utter confusion...

With a bit of tugging, and a continuous low snarl, Talon was able to mostly dislodge the hatchling. The little female was reluctant at first, but finally let go and tilted her head up at the alpha raptor. Unlike the rest of the humans the raptors had encountered, this fragile infant seemed unafraid of them. Or at least, of Talon. As Clever approached hesitantly, the hatchling shied away from him, still clinging onto Talon's leg with her own.

Clever leaned to one side, trying to get a better look at the hatchling. He then glanced at his mate and gave a puzzled click. _What... do you intend to do with it?_ The gray-scaled raptor could tell that Talon didn't intend to kill the hatchling - no, instead she'd soothed it with that lulling croon. Clever wished he could understand what she was thinking.

Keeping one eye on her restless packmates, Talon swiveled her head around to face Clever, bumping him with her nose. Her hiss was quiet as she told him, _This hatchling does not belong to the humans who destroyed our unhatched ones. Her scent is wrong._ In having nothing to do with the human invaders, the tiny creature did not deserve the pack's anger. Not to mention, at her size, she would barely feed a single raptor... _She is alone,_ Talon continued. _Weak. You can see she will not survive on her own. _

Finally, Clever understood his mate's intentions. If anything, he was even more confused. His neck arched back in shock, and it unnerved the rest of the pack to see him so startled. They began to protest loudly, demanding a reason for why they weren't allowed to destroy the tiny human, but Talon silenced them with a sharp screech.

Clever was not so easily calmed.

_It is still a human!_ he snarled. _It is not one of our own hatchlings!_ The thin red feathers lining the back of Clever's head bristled, and in a rare moment of pure frustration he snapped at his own mate. His teeth cut through the air only inches from Talon's face. _Talon, a human cannot replace our little ones!_

For a moment, Talon stood completely still, her eyes narrowed in anger at the reaction of her mate. It seemed as if she might relent, and accept Clever's reasoning. She didn't disagree with him - the loss of an entire clutch of eggs was not a pain easily mended. So easily she could have given into her predatory instinct. The tiny human's stubby, fleshy claws still trembled and clung to the raptor's leg. With just a twist of her foot, she could drive her sickle claw into the hatchling's side and kill her.

The hatchling's whimper was all the persuasion Talon needed to make the other choice. The sound was strangely articulated, just like all the sounds humans made, but the distress in the hatchling's voice was exactly the same as the plaintive cries of every helpless hatchling.

Prey. Tyrannosaur. Raptor. Human.

All the same.

Clever may have been adamant about treating the lost hatchling like any other weak human, but Talon was just as persistent. Straightening up to her full height, she glared viciously at her mate. _I know that nothing can replace the dead!_ Her snarl was tainted with venom. Talon turned her head to the rest of the pack, who flinched at the bitter anger in her eyes. Her teeth were bared threateningly, and her command was coarse and final.

_Enough hatchlings have died already... if one of you tries to kill her, I will see it as a challenge against __**me. **_

When Talon fell silent, her pack was silent as well, shocked by their alpha's declaration. In any situation, to openly defy their alpha would be to challenge her dominance, and she would not hesitate to fight them in order to secure her place as leader of the pack. Now, she insisted on defending a _human_ hatchling... a creature of prey, and an enemy.

If Talon had just said that any threat to the hatchling would be seen as a challenge against her rank, then the rest of the pack might have been infuriated into rebellion on the spot. However, they were held in silence and stillness by the first part of her command. Slowly, but surely, the hostile tension in the air began to diffuse. Even Clever relaxed - he wasn't about to defy his mate, not when she was right.

Enough hatchlings had died already.

Curiously enough, in all the commotion the hatchling had actually stayed very quiet. She let out a faint squeal, the first sound to interrupt the numb silence. Apparently she'd decided that poking Talon's leg was a worthwhile experience. Making sure not to alarm her, the raptor turned back to look at the little human. Once again Talon noticed the gash on her head, and the blood coagulating around it. The wound would heal, but it would definitely leave a scar.

_...Hmm._ Talon paused for a moment, and then curled her lip back in amusement. Lowering her head, she sniffed in the scent of drying blood. She was not going to leave the hatchling out here alone, but if Talon was going to be keeping her in the pack, then she needed a name. _Yes. I think this one will fit well. _Snarling softly, but loud enough for the pack to hear, Talon gave the hatchling her name.

_Little one, we will call you Scar. _

The raptor doubted the hatchling could understand Talon's tone, but she glanced up all the same. Digging her upper teeth - dull and blunt, but that could be fixed - into her lower lip, the little one suddenly reached up and batted at Talon's nose. In the touch, the alpha raptor could feel how fragile the hatchling was. Her bones and muscles were weak, but she would grow. It would take time, but Talon knew how to be patient.

Eventually the rest of the pack would come to accept the newest addition to their numbers. They would help teach her, show her how to be a predator. Scar was so small now, but she would grow. The hatchling was not a _human _anymore. She would be strong, and she would become a raptor.

Clicking soothingly, Talon bent into Scar's touch and brushed her nose against the hatchling's cheek. Her happy squeal was almost identical to that of a newly hatched raptor, and Talon felt her heart lighten. She felt her sorrow for the loss of her unhatched clutch slowly begin to fade away. Oblivious to the raptor's thoughts, the hatchling wrapped her arms around Talon's head.

_Scar, _Talon hissed softly, closing her eyes and breathing in the little one's scent. _You are our hatchling now. We will keep you safe. _


End file.
